A 9-month pregnant survivor thanks to her Muslim friends that she started a new life.
Swaraj Kohli was 16-year old when she heard a crowd hailing “Le Kar rahen ge Pakistan” (We will get Pakistan) on the roads near her home in Peshawar, Pakistan. She lived her teens where Grand Trunk road from Calcutta met Peshawar, a Muslim majority area.
At the start, everyone lived in peace and communities treated each other as a part of the family. She was in her early teen and the word “Pakistan” was unknown to her back then.
Her husband Krishan Kohli, was 25 and was in the army during the times of the Second World War. He was provided an option to choose between the two nations. Having lived his whole life in Peshawar, he didn’t want to give up his origins over a geo-political ‘dispute’. He chose to continue living in Pakistan. The whole family was Hindu but didn’t think it makes any difference.
Swaraj’s parents forced her to leave for Haridwar, India in June 1947, but she returned to Peshawar in August with her husband just after the two weeks Pakistan was formed.
She witnessed an attack in Peshawar on the 7th of December and saw men with swords, raising furious slogans heading towards her area. There was a house in front of hers with big iron gates where Hindu families were seeking refuge. She considers herself to be lucky because of her Muslim friends who saved her from kidnapping, theft and even murder.
A 9-Month Pregnant Survivor
She left her home and lived with her Muslim friends for a few months. The government of Pakistan securely shifted survivors to Purana Qila (a fort). And from there the nine months pregnant Swaraj, along with her husband, made her journey to Delhi, India.
They lived for two days in the railway station and a local hospital. After which they boarded a train to Saharanpur for her parents’ home in Haridwar. But the trip wasn’t easy. The goods train halted on the Yamuna Bridge and was refused to enter UP because of being overcrowded. They shifted to a bullock cart and succeeded to reach. But life here was no different from Peshawar. Hindus were killing Pakistani Muslims and snatching their properties. Governed by the Hindu community, killings were no less.
On her way to Haridwar, Swaraj gave birth to a baby boy on the train and eventually traveled to Bhimgoda in Haridwar after another bullock cart rides.
Swaraj continued her education at Prabhakar Classes, under the affiliation of Punjab University. In 1950, she passed the Prabhakar exams and started a part-time job. A year later she gave birth to her second child, a baby girl in 1951, but her education didn’t end here. She completed her matriculation, F.A., and B.A. in English, B.A. in History, M.A. from Aligarh University and B.Ed. from Delhi University. Her husband also got a job in ITC.
She still thanks her Muslim friends in Pakistan and thinks this life is a gift from them.
